"It’s worth pointing out also that the slight ambiguity of past Seedcamp years has now gone. Seedcamp T&Cs now state that a startup cannot go into the programme unless they will take the investment offered. To remind you, that’s 5-10% equity (stakes are flexible) for a 50,000 Euro investment. That’s totally fine. They’ve assembled an awesome network of mentors. It would be a huge waste of everyone’s time if a startup got all that great advice and then effectively threw it back in the faces of the organisers and didn’t take the investment."
WTF?
I read that as saying teams have to take investment if offered? Is that even legal? But why should "I just decided not to take investment" be " throwing it back in the faces of the organizers"?
Shouldn't each party enter a transaction because they think it is a good thing at the point of transacting? This looks like it is possible for a team to be saddled with investors they don't like.
( I could be completely off base. Please correct me. Thanks in advance)
I don't know whether or not the Seedcamp T&Cs are legal.
But, they are logical IMHO. You get about 25 hours worth of advice from Saul's high-value network of entrepreneurs and investors. In exchange for this advice, Seedcamp gets an option to invest at a reasonable valuation given the stage of the companies that attend.
Rather than make this option a legal Security in your company, they take you at your word. Seems better than wasting everyone's time with legal fees to actually formalize this option.
"It is important that if you decide to accept the invitation for Seedcamp Week, that you participate with the intention to accept a Seedcamp investment. We have streamlined this week and process to help entrepreneurs and speed up a historically unnecessarily lengthy investment process. As such we believe teams should provide the same good faith and participate with the intention of bringing Seedcamp on board as an investor."
The Mini-Seedcamp events all over Europe and the multi-stage application/interview process offer loads of chances to get to know the people involved before participating in Seedcamp week proper.
It is extremely stupid, not to put too fine a point on it to accept any cat in any bag at any price. You need to know your potential investor quite well before going with them.
That's also to the investors advantage, so to see a clause like this is a big red flag.
What if you really don't connect on any level and they still want a part of your company ? What if you feel you simply can not trust them ?
"It’s worth pointing out also that the slight ambiguity of past Seedcamp years has now gone. Seedcamp T&Cs now state that a startup cannot go into the programme unless they will take the investment offered. To remind you, that’s 5-10% equity (stakes are flexible) for a 50,000 Euro investment. That’s totally fine. They’ve assembled an awesome network of mentors. It would be a huge waste of everyone’s time if a startup got all that great advice and then effectively threw it back in the faces of the organisers and didn’t take the investment."
WTF?
I read that as saying teams have to take investment if offered? Is that even legal? But why should "I just decided not to take investment" be " throwing it back in the faces of the organizers"?
Shouldn't each party enter a transaction because they think it is a good thing at the point of transacting? This looks like it is possible for a team to be saddled with investors they don't like.
( I could be completely off base. Please correct me. Thanks in advance)